1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fixing apparatuses provided with a paper separation member that is arranged so as to be capable of contacting and separating from a surface of a fixing roller in order to separate from the fixing roller a paper to be transported, and more specifically relates to fixing apparatuses in which toner that has collected between the paper separation member and the fixing roller is removed by an action of the paper separation member, and image forming apparatuses equipped with these fixing apparatuses
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional fixing apparatuses and image forming apparatuses equipped with these are provided with a paper separation member that contacts the surface of the fixing roller in order to separate from the fixing roller a paper to be transported. And among these image forming apparatuses, some have been proposed (see JP 2004-279927A for example) in which the paper separation member is configured so as to be capable of contacting and separating from the surface of the fixing roller. With the image forming apparatus described in JP 2004-279927A, by keeping the paper separation member separate from the surface of the fixing roller at times other than during an image forming operation, the contact time between the paper separation member and the surface of the fixing roller can be shortened as much as possible, which prevents the paper separation member from damaging the surface of the fixing roller.
In this regard, there has been a problem in fixing apparatuses provided with these paper separation members in that toner (hereinafter also referred to as “residual toner”) that has collected between the paper separation member and the fixing roller (particularly the pressure roller) re-adheres to the fixing roller when the fixing roller commences rotation, thereby undesirably soiling the paper that is transported in.
That is, in a case where toner is residual between the paper separation member and the fixing roller during the image forming operation, the residual toner hardens when image forming stops temporarily in this state. Then, at the time of the next image forming operation, the residual toner melts on the surface of the fixing roller due to the heat of the fixing roller, thereby soiling the paper that is transported in. In particular, from a perspective of device miniaturization and power saving in regard to the pressure roller, in a case where no cleaning member is provided or where there is only a metal roller that is idly rotated by the pressure roller, there is no sufficient cleaning capability such as that of a cleaning unit using a web sheet provided for the hot roller in the case of the metal roller. For this reason, this is a structure in which toner that could not be sufficiently removed by the metal roller tends to readily adhere between the paper separation member and the pressure roller during image forming operations.